Lost Purple Heart, earned during WW2, returned to Geneva family

As part of the U.S. Army’s 65th Infantry Division – known as the Battle-Axe Division – during World War II, Pfc. Edward Gorski Jr., was in a foxhole in Germany when he was injured on May 2, 1945.

Enemy fire struck and the 19-year-old took shrapnel in his arm and face, nearly costing him an eye.

Gorski was awarded the Purple Heart. He survived the war and went on to get married and have a family, a daughter and four sons.

He died of a heart attack in 1993 at 67 at his home in Westmont.

But his Purple Heart was missing - until Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs presented it Thursday to Gorski’s grandson, Scott Shawn Gorski Jr. of Geneva.

“Mr. Gorski Jr. epitomized the selfless dedication of the Greatest Generation,” Frerichs said during the Purple Heart Reunification Ceremony at American Legion Post 75 in Geneva, where Gorski’s grandson, also an Army veteran, is a member. “It is our duty to honor him no matter how many years have passed.”

This is the 14th Purple Heart Frerichs has reunited to a veteran or surviving family. As the state’s treasurer, he explained that his office collects unclaimed property – usually money, but also Purple Hearts.

Recipients will often keep them in a safe deposit box, which goes to Frerichs’ office if they are unclaimed, he said.

His office and others work to figure out who the medals belong to, and reunify them with recipients or their families.

Edward Gorski Jr. joined the Army after his 18th birthday in January 1944, Frerichs said, recounting the late veteran’s service.

While they were freezing in a fox hole, a soldier lit a fire. German artillery spotted them, Frerichs said.

Ed Gorski’s grandson – who goes by his middle name Shawn – thanked everyone who participated in tracking down where his grandfather’s Purple Heart belonged, and who attended the ceremony. His own father, Scott Shawn Gorski Sr., came from North Carolina for the ceremony.

Reciting from the National Veterans Memorial Museum, “Purple Heart is a U.S. military award given to individuals wounded, killed or died of wounds received while serving in armed forces,” Shawn Gorski said.

“It ... is considered a symbol of sacrifice and valor,” Shawn Gorski said. “I think I can speak on behalf of my entire family when I say that my grandfather was worthy of this medal.”

In his remarks, Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns recited a poem, “Purple Hearts,” by Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient Robert McGowan, stating in part,

“My heart is purple – red and blue.

Mixed, they make a royal hue:

red for the crimson of spilled blood,

blue for sadness, those tears that flood."

Post Commander Michael Ferrari said the reunification ceremony is “is a moment of profound significance not just for the family, but our entire community and for all who value service.”

“The Purple Heart is one of the oldest and most revered military honors. It is not a medal that is won. It is a medal that is earned by bloodshed and sacrifice in the crucible of combat,” Ferrari said.

More information about Frerichs’ work to reunite Purple Hearts with recipients or family is available online at operationpurpleheart.org.